1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for feeding a web-like material, the device comprising a spindle pivotally mounted on a frame and connected to a driving motor. This invention also relates to a feeding module comprising at least two such feeding devices.
2. Brief Description of the Background Art
In certain fields one must feed a manufacturing process with different web-like materials at feed rates that may be substantially different for the different materials, each feed rate depending on the quantity of web-like material used. Consequently, in order to supply only the necessary lengths to the manufacturing process, so as to optimize the use of the web-like materials, the spindles must be driven at different speeds and/or for different periods. This problem occurs particularly when manufacturing sheet-like materials having a surface that is selectively metalized by means of bonded metal sheets. This is a commonly used method for printing and embossing paper or cardboard sheets for manufacturing packages, particularly packages for luxury goods.
It is obviously possible to place each roll of web-like material on an independent spindle, driven by its own motor, but the multiplicity of these spindles produces a space requirement problem. Furthermore, in order to permit selective distribution of the web-like material at the required place on the blanks of paper or cardboard, the spindles for feeding the web-like materials must extend across the whole working width of the machine. However, the width of the web-like materials is almost always substantially smaller than the working width of the machine itself, which approximately corresponds to the width of the paper or cardboard sheets. Therefore, usually only a small part of the length of a web-feeding spindle is used. Alternatively, if a number of web-like material rolls are arranged side by side on the same spindle, the quantity of web-like material fed by this spindle must be adjusted to feed all materials according to the web-like material with greatest usage. This increases the waste of the other web-like materials placed on this same spindle. The aim of the present invention is to meet, at least partly, the difficulties of the above-mentioned solutions.